This invention relates to an optical lens and in particular to a high power molded lens for use in eyewear for correction of severe myopia. The lens configuration disclosed relates to the compound lens construction of my prior application Ser. No. 318,956 filed Mar. 6, 1989 entitled LENTICULAR EYEWEAR AND METHOD OF FABRICATION.
In correction of severe myopia, the conventional lens is constructed with a relatively flat outer face and an inner face having an extreme curvature which results in a lens that is very thin at the center and very thick at the outer periphery where the lens engages the frame. The resulting lens is therefore exceptionally heavy and generally unattractive. While the use of lighter weight plastics can relieve some of the weight, plastics generally have a smaller coefficient of refraction than do speciality glass substances. To compensate for the lower refraction coefficient, the inner curvature must be further accentuated. It has been found, that individuals with severe myopia tend to look through only a small central area of each lens and, while conscious of peripheral images, tend to move their head to focus on such images instead of shifting their eyes to view through the periphery of the lenses.
In order to accommodate the desire for light weight lenses that can be used in large attractive frames, the discontinuous lens configuration of this invention was devised. The lens configuration can be inexpensively manufactured in any conventional mold system that is customarily employed in the manufacture of polymer lens blanks. The fabricated lens blank is preferably of conventional diameter with a substantial perimeter portion that is of conventional thickness and curvature and can be trimmed and fitted to the full range of frames that are ordinarily available to user's of eyewear requiring little or no correction.